The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for printing or imaging onto spinning circular media, such as optical media. Certain embodiments of the present invention pertain to a radial sled printing apparatus and methods that implement printing over a spinning media.
In the art of printing ink objects as it applies to radial printing, there is a need to build an inexpensive radial printer apparatus. By way of illustration and referring to aspects of the present invention, in FIG. 1, is shown a radial printer 10 having print head 110 operably mounted over media 100 to enable moving along path 106 via print head carriage holder 112, actuated by stepper motor 114 with lead screw 116. Ink objects from the print head 110 are discharged while the print head moves along path 106 over media 100 while spinning 102 to affect printing over the media's annular area 104. Print head 110 may also be configured to traverse sideways for precision imaging adjustments via motor 670 and lead screw 672, as well as backward into maintenance station 504.
One difficulty with crafting a radial printer is that higher-tolerance, precision components frequently are required to ensure that no distortion is caused during movement of the print head along a radial direction while radial printing. Any misalignment or improper positioning of the print head nozzles will create undesirable distortion as disclosed by the present inventor in U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,295 by Bradshaw et al. Precision components often increase the overall cost of manufacturing the radial printing apparatus. Furthermore, there is a continuous need to reduce the overall system size and cost for radial printers.
To reduce the overall system size and improve inherent image quality, a device is needed to lower the cost of radial printing a label and optionally recording a CD or DVD.